A week after drawing heavy criticism for her characterization of a missing girl as a murder suspect who must be brought to justice, Monterey County’s sheriff announced an Amber Alert for the 14-year-old.
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The alert issued Sunday is the latest chapter in the case of “Baby Angelita,” a newborn found dead by the side of a Moss Landing road. Investigators are seeking 38-year-old Sergio Galvez Perez, whom DNA has confirmed to be the baby’s father, and his 14-year-old daughter, Diana.
The charges that have been made public — including incest — imply that Galvez Perez is believed to have impregnated the teen. She is thought to have given birth on the roadside.
Nevertheless, when Sheriff Tina Nieto on Aug. 31 announced the arrest warrants for the pair, she referred to Diana as “a murder suspect” and said the agency would be using every available resource “to locate Sergio Galvez Perez and the juvenile and bring them to justice.”
About three minutes of Nieto’s five-minute public statement was devoted to applauding the use of license plate readers in the investigation.
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The uproar prompted the Monterey County district attorney’s office to issue a statement making clear that it considered the girl a victim of her father’s abuse and that it was not involved in the arrest warrant for her.
With the request for an Amber Alert — a public notification of a missing child thought be in danger — the sheriff’s office presented a more sympathetic view of the teen. “Our immediate priority is to locate her and ensure she is safe,” it said.
It stated: “We understand there have been questions about why an Amber Alert was not previously requested,” and it said that investigators last week did not have information about the vehicle in which Diana may have been traveling “and were also unable to confirm with certainty that Diana and Sergio were traveling together.”
The office said a video confirmed the two had been traveling together in a white Nissan Altima with no license plates.
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